Fleeting Faith
by FlyingOnWingsOfCrazy
Summary: Sequel to Misadventures in Another World. Someone very dear has left, so now the crew must go back to Gaia. KadajxOC LozxOC VincentxOC
1. Happy flipping birthday

**Roxy: Hey everyone the sequel is up sooner than we expected. I'm already working on the title page follow the link here, http:// black-dragon14.deviantart. com without the spaces …**

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Fleeting Faith

Chapter 1

"Happy birthday Roxy!"

"If you guys start breaking out in song I will go vampire on your asses."

Carmen rolled her eyes and patted Roxy in the back. It was her birthday specifically February 3rd and they were celebrating the occasion. The brown haired/red streaks/blonde streaks/black streaks girl sat comfortably in the lap of the ebony haired gunslinger, Vincent Valentine and frowned like no tomorrow.

"You still have yet to open my gift."

Vincent whispered in Roxy's ear, she smiled lightly and picked up the gift he was holding in his golden gauntlet. She daintily opened the gift taking her time and Vincent's eye sparkled when she saw what it was. A ruby shaped diamond connected to a white gold chain was glittering beautifully in the black box. With gentle care, Vincent picked up the necklace and clipped it together as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!"

Yuffie exclaimed and jumped up. Yazoo sighed and chucked his gift at Roxy who caught it with ease while Yuffie let the guests in.

"Happy Birth-!"

"Don't say it!"

Roxy yelled cutting Lisa off. Carmen snickered and motioned for Loz and Lisa to sit beside her and Kadaj, Cloud and Tifa walked in and handed Roxy a gift then took a seat.

"Man we have to get ready soon."

"Why? For what?"

"Didn't Denzel tell you?"

"Oh ya! No."

Roxy said sarcastically, Carmen shook her head and caught Denzel and Marlene by the collar of their shirts. She brought them to her face and spoke in a scarily calm voice.

"One of you picked up the phone I know it."

"N-N-N-No we didn't C-C-Carmen."

Denzel spoke shakily Cloud and Barret stood up and escorted the children out of the room to give them a long boring talk about lying.

"Carmen why didn't you just call my cell?"

"…Well…You see…"

"Carmen…"

Roxy whispered in a demanding tone. Yuffie shot up with the black cell phone in her hands and scampered over to Carmen handing her the respected item.

"Yuffie had it for the day."

Carmen spoke quickly and Roxy sighed running a hand through her hair. It had been two months since they were transported to the Oni Lair and defeated the Leader. Everyone decided to stay in this realm since they no longer had to worry about leaving and had a few travels. Since Cait Sith could create a portal to Gaia, Barret went back to bring Marlene and Denzel to live with them.

Reeve and Shalua even decided to come. Shalua was apparently a scientist at WRO who was searching for her meaning in life. It seemed Reeve had a certain… fondness of her so Roxy didn't have anything against them. Though they had to sleep in the spare room downstairs.

"So…What is it I'm exactly missing…?"

"We're going to a club in 2 hours."

Tifa answered and everyone nodded. Roxy was quiet and seemed to be in thought.

"Who's going to baby sit the kids?"

There was a silence throughout the living room until Cid coughed.

"Barret and I are taking care of the damn kids. Reeve and Shalua are too I think…Hell all of the adults are staying behind!"

Yuffie grinned and bounced up to the blonde pilot.

"Hah you admit you are old!"

Cid scowled and left the room, and Red XII purred under Tifa's touch. Carmen picked up a bag and got off Kadaj and pulled Roxy upstairs.

"We're going to have to get ready. We're taking your Aston Martin."

"If it's out of gas you're paying the bill that car is freaken expensive. So is Vincent coming?"

"Why don't you ask him? Of course Red isn't, he's a wolf thingy…"

Roxy sighed… If they were taking her cars that would mean there would be about…9 people…And the Turks too.

"Are the Turks coming?"

"Well just Reno. Elena and Tseng wanted a quiet night and Rufus wanted to try the hot tub out and I believe Rude was assisting in taking care of the brats."

So 10 people which meant 2 cars. Recently Roxy's Fiat Barchetta broke down and she still had yet to fix it. Roxy shook her head in defeat and grabbed her car keys on the way to her room. They were taking her onyx black Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and her blood red BMW M3.

"Why are we getting ready 2 hours before necessary?"

"It's your birthday and you're asking all these questions."

Carmen mumbled and finally stopped dragging Roxy she immediately headed to her closet and rummaged through it muttering angrily under her breath at how messy it was. She stopped and pulled out a red halter top and a pair of black khaki shorts.

"Here put these on."

"…I'll look like a total slut in that. If I wanted to be one I would go to Kaitlin!"

"Vincent won't think your one, these _are_ his colors."

Roxy grumbled something under her breath with a red tint on her face as she grabbed the clothing from Carmen's hand. Carmen laughed and pulled out a white tank top and a black pair of pants, she slipped on some black gloves and a few arm bands then zipped up her Slayer coat (which looked like Kadaj's leather coat, except it was white and had the slayer's Logo on it, a S that looked like a serpent, with a blood red star around it). Roxy came out and pulled out a fish net shirt and grabbed her hoodie.

"I thought you said you didn't want to look like a whore."

"I don't. I'm just trying to impress Vincent so shut the hell up."

"Hm I suppose."

Roxy applied red lipstick on and flopped onto her bed as Yuffie jumped into the room with Tifa following behind.

"Where's Lisa?"

"She told me that she had gotten ready already so now we're waiting for you guys."

Tifa replied and Roxy reluctantly got up.

-----

Carmen sighed as she quickly put a clip in her hair, making her look even more like a librarian, she quickly tied her Soul's Bane to her belt, before bolting out the door, Roxy throwing the keys to her as Roxy herself got into her Aston Martin. Carmen quickly caught the keys as Reno, Loz, Lisa and Kadaj loaded into the car. Carmen turned to Kadaj, who was at shotgun.

"Hang on for a second, Kadaj-Kun."

Carmen quickly threw a wad of paper to Roxy, before shouting.

"Here's the address. Don't get lost or an Oni would attack you"

"I can handle myself!...And don't throw stuff at me!"

"Ok, Ok…crybaby…"

Carmen muttered the last part before entering the car.

-----

Loud music was blaring in the club and Roxy covered her ears. The bouncer nodded at Carmen and they sat at a table. Roxy sighed grumpily and leaned on Vincent's chest. Lisa and Loz were dancing together to the beat a little to close in public but hey Roxy wasn't going to say anything.

"If you don't cheer up right now I'll seriously consider spiking your drink Roxy."

"Carmen I'm fine okay. Just bored I'm not much of a night club kind of person."

Vincent rose from his seat and offered his hand. Kadaj snickered at the chivalry while Carmen elbowed him abruptly in the stomach.

"May I have this dance?"

Roxy took his hand and they strode off into the dance floor. Yuffie followed them with her ninja sense obviously looking for some black mail material. Yazoo crossed him arms and stared out into space until Carmen turned to him.

"What's with the face?"

Yazoo snorted as he watched Cloud talk animatedly to Tifa at the bar. He could feel the smoldering gaze Carmen was giving him but ignored her until Kadaj kicked him in the shin.

"Ow what the hell brother!"

"Answer her."

"I feel like I should keep this face on so no women will approach me."

"Aa I see. You still have an infatuation with her."

"Wha? Who?"

"Roxy. Though it's hard to tell, you give it away when you call her by her full name."

"I'm just showing complete respect when I address her as Roxanne."

Yazoo answered a bit miffed at the conversation at hand. Carmen shrugged and left Yazoo to his mopey self. Carmen looked towards Kadaj, before pecking him on the lips slightly, smiling

"What was that for?"

"No reason, just felt like it."

In truth, Carmen wasn't that much of a romantic, normally, she would punch Kadaj if he did something wrong, so it was quite a shock that Carmen just did that. Kadaj shrugged the thought off before hugging Carmen, smiling as well, before whispering in her ear

"Love you."

Carmen smiled before kissing him as her response.

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Carmen: Yayz, we have the next story up, oh yea, the disclaimer

WE OWN NOTHING, EXCEPT THE ONI, THE SLAYERS AND OURSELVES

**Roxy: Hn…**


	2. Drunken Happenings

**Roxy: As usual we're slow to update. Now as you old readers all know Kaitlin is my arch enemy and a total you know what. Well recently I've come to terms with her and I respect her by not saying anything behind her back, but she's really pushed it when she called me a hypocrite behind my back.**

Carmen: All in all she's a slut, and many other vulgar things.

**Roxy: Yes that's right. Well she will be a main evil bad guy in this fic because well she's a pain in my side in real life. If you want to see how much of a loser she is check out her pen name MishaAngelBunny THE PERSON WHO REVIEWS HER OWN FICS LAME MUCH!**

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Chapter 2

Roxy swayed her hips to the beat and smirked slightly as Vincent looked questioningly at her. Obviously being the guy he was he had no experience in present times dancing.

"Come on it's really easy."

"I spent years learning the tango, the waltz and all those other dances yet they all go to waste."

"Well how about I take you out somewhere we can do the tango hm?"

"I highly doubt a child such as your self can do such a complicated dance."

"If I'm a child and you're dating me what does that make you? Oh yeah a _pedophile._"

"Don't make me do you know what."

"Hn… I've grown immune to your tickling expertise Mr. Valentine."

Vincent sneaked his hand and started tickling the girl as she tried her best not to squirm and laugh. Eventually the two were a bit tired and made they're way to the table.

"You're red in the face for once Roxy."

"Shut up Carmen."

Roxy replied with a glower. She sighed and laid her head on the table with her eyes closed. All this loud music and everything were giving her a major migraine. While she relaxed she heard Vincent move to sit beside her.

-----

Carmen quietly picked up the alcohol she had ordered earlier and poured it into Roxy's sprite. If the asswipe wasn't going to have fun at her own party then she was going to be forced. Carmen for one thing knew that Roxy was definitely not a heavy drinker.

She watched with amusement in her eyes as Roxy lifted her head from the table and gloomily drank her Sprite. Oh yes this was going to be a fun night out in the town.

"You know my drink tastes pretty weird… I should complain."

"No no no… Um drinks always taste weird on our birthday!"

Carmen spoke quickly; Roxy gave her a funny look and strode up to the bar. Yazoo glared at her and snarled lowly.

"You spiked her drink."

"It's just a joke. Believe me if push comes to shove I can take care of it."

"You spiked her drink. On her _birthday_."

"Relax Yazoo. God you're more wound up than her."

Yazoo stormed off while guess who? Kaitlin showed up. She was surprise surprise in a pink tube top and an extremely short white mini skirt. Her hair was tied up into pigtails on the side of her head.

"Hey Carmen what's up?"

Kaitlin spoke as if she and Carmen were best buds and had the exact same relationship as Carmen did with Roxy. Except Kaitlin didn't get the message even though Carmen constantly told her to fuck off.

"What do you want Kaitlin?"

"Don't you want to know why I'm here?"

"No."

"Well I'm here because I go here like every day. You should come here more often wouldn't that be totally sweet?"

"I don't get how me coming here is sweet… I don't even think it has a taste."

"Where's that frikken idiot hypocrite?"

"You mean Roxy?"

"Duh!"

"Oh she's around. You know you shouldn't insult her behind her back, she shows enough respect to you to not talk about you behind _your _back."

"So? I'm just stating the truth she's a hypocrite."

"How is that?"

"Well she says I'm a total poser when I'm not and that means she was talking behind my back."

"…Kaitlin… She said that to your face."

"Ya well-"

"Hey –hic- It's the…the slut! So whatcha doin' –hic- here you bitch? Hope –hic- your not acting all chummy and dense –hic- around Carmen when she's being vocal about –hic- hating you."

Roxy exclaimed while she staggered to the table, a slight blush was on her face. She was definitely drunk. Otherwise she would never voice her thoughts to Kaitlin.

"You did NOT just say that to me!"

Kaitlin shrieked as Roxy grinned goofily. She nodded and seemed to be sluggish when sitting down.

"I guess your –hic- deaf now too."

Yazoo scrambled out of the seat he was sitting in and stopped in front of the table. Kaitlin gave him a once over and was deciding whether or not it would be a good idea to flirt or to continue her fight with Roxy.

"You fuckin shallow bitch –hic- you didn't hear me?"

"You know what Roxy your just a hypocrite and a dumb ass and incase you haven't realized it yet. I'm superior to you in every way possible including looks, smarts, and way with men so I'm not wasting my time on you."

Roxy stared dumbly at Kaitlin trying to sink in what she just said… She seemed to get the message pretty quickly and stood up, dwarfing Kaitlin immediately with her height.

"Kaitlin if you ever say that to my face ever again. I will make your life a living hell. Go after my boyfriend or ex-boyfriends and manipulate them with your sluttish features when their drunk and don't worry I'll find you in a matter of hours to serve your death wish."

Roxy growled surprisingly without hiccups. Kaitlin gawked then stood her ground and tried to size up the drunken girl. Roxy turned around and punched Kaitlin in the face and god did it hurt.

"You bitch!"

Kaitlin shrieked as she lunged at Roxy. Vincent quickly stood up and in front of Roxy and sent a menacing glare at Kaitlin.

"You should not attack her unless you want to go through me. She is drunk and has no clue what's she doing, if you cannot understand that I believe scum like you should leave us alone."

Kaitlin sent a fearsome look at Vincent but took a few steps back, Roxy smirked triumphantly and wobbled. Immediately Yazoo took her left arm while Vincent took her right and they helped her walk out of the club. Kaitlin sniffed arrogantly and walked off.

"Hey where are you guys going?"

"Brother tell Carmen that if she does not allow me and Vincent to bring Roxanne outside she may throw up."

Yazoo yelled over the loud music, he was too pist off at Carmen to address her directly.

-----

Carmen leaned against the wall, as she noticed some guy staring her chest. She shot a death glare at him as she hissed

"Stay the fuck away from me."

She kicked off the wall after Roxy left. She was too pissed to go out the front, so she went out through the back alley, only to find a couple of guys standing there, with weapons, they turn around, then attack.

The two men never made it back home. Carmen stalked back home, instead of taking the car, she walked, her hands dripping with blood. She punched too hard. A man to pick up the garbage rounded the corner; he stopped at the bodies and murmured.

"This guy's face will never heal. I think he's dead."

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**Roxy: Sorry I mostly wrote this whole chapter out. Anyways if you guys are interested I and Carmen are thinking of creating a soundtrack for this fanfic.**


	3. The ride home

**Roxy: Sorry we're so slow to update we've had shit to do. Oh oh look another link this one I guarantee you should see. www . deviantart. com/deviation/50096638/**

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Chapter 3

Roxy lay in the back of the Aston Martin out cold. On the way back had been very interesting…

"_Oh my god!!! Vincent –hic- do you remember that…um time? We slept –hic- together?"_

"…"

"_I'm just –hic- kidding. We didn't really do **it**. We just slept –hic- in the same bed."_

_Yazoo held in the relieved sigh he had held in and continued to carry the drunken girl to the car. When they arrived after much babble considering Roxy was now too drunk to even form words. Vincent finally spoke._

"_Where's the keys?"_

_Yazoo reached into her pocket and pulled them out and threw them over to Vincent. He caught them and opened the back door and laid Roxy in the back seat where she was now sleeping peacefully._

"That was one terrible night and on her birthday too."

Vincent nodded looking in the mirror every few minutes to check on Roxy before setting his eyes on the road again. Roxy's cell rang loudly and Yazoo snatched the thing immediately answering it hoping Roxy didn't stir.

"Hello?"

"Brother? Did you and Vincent take the car to bring Roxy home?"

"Yes…"

"Oh ok. Well Carmen walked left the club and gave Kadaj the keys. Reno, Yuffie, Cloud, and Tifa are going with him and I'll be leaving right now with Lisa. Ok?"

"Yeah sure."

Yazoo hung up and sighed heavily. Roxy's house started to come into view and when they pulled into the garage Vincent picked Roxy up and waited for Yazoo to lock the car and open the door.

Taking off their shoes they went there separate ways. Yazoo going to his room and Vincent to Roxy's, Cid groggily walked in on Vincent setting Roxy down on the bed.

"Yo what happened to the fuckin' kid?

"She got drunk."

"How much?"

"Pardon?"

"How much did she drink until she was drunk?"

"A bottle of pure alcohol."

"Not bad for a kid."

"Cid what do you usually do when you have a hangover?"

"Curse like fuckin mad then take some pain killers."

Vincent waited until Cid closed the door then pulled his shirt off and unraveled his head band. Red woke up while Vincent was brushing his teeth and padded softly to the side where Roxy was sleeping.

"What happened to her?"

"She got drunk."

"Aa I see. Kids these days so foolish."

"No Carmen spiked her drink."

Red simply smiled and nuzzled her hand before sleeping silently on the bean bag. Vincent, after brushing his teeth, buried himself under the covers beside Roxy and fell asleep as quickly as Red had.

-----

Carmen swore loudly. She was lost, tired, and pissed off. If she had anything to relieve her anger with, she would do it. She had already knocked out, beaten and killed about 30 sleezy guys already.

"Having troubles?" Whispered a terribly familiar voice, causing Carmen quickly turned, fearing that the Oni Leader was back, but saw nothing

"Great, Now I'm hearing things." Carmen muttered to herself, her face in her hand "Fuck it, I'm going to spend the night at a hotel. I need to spend the next few days away. I'll tell Kadaj" Carmen reached for her cellular phone, only to find that she didn't have it "Fuck!" Carmen closed her eyes, quickly thinking, until she realized she left it in the car. She sighed before entering a nearby high class hotel, She checked in under her name, and asked for a Single bedroom. As she walked up to her room, which was on the 6th floor, she looked around, sighing.

"Ah well, they're better off not knowing, since I have an underground mission tomorrow. Damn that DEEPGROUND, still lurking in our realm… Vincent and Roxy shouldn't know about this. Good thing Rango is keeping his pie hole shut." She thought to herself.

-----

Roxy woke up with a pounding headache and groaned. She saw Vincent beside her and snuggled closer to him. He flicked an eye open and looked down at her head.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"You have a hang over."

"How? I didn't even drink any alcohol."

"Carmen slipped some into your drink."

"Oh so that's why it tasted funny."

"Are you mad at her?"

"Not really…"

"You said some pretty nasty stuff to Kaitlin."

Roxy blinked and her eyes widened all of a sudden.

"Oh fuck! I have to go and apologize to her!"

Now it was Vincent's turn to be surprised.

-----

Carmen flopped onto her bed, sighing as she took out a small flask of whiskey. She took a long draught, closing her eyes. No one knew that she was a closet alcoholic, drinking a flask of whiskey every day, two on a stress full day, three on those really hellish days. She then drained two more flasks. No matter how much people said drinking is bad, she couldn't help it. She put the flasks away, her eyes closed still. Damn her life to hell.

With that last thought, she dozed off.

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Carmen: Sorry for the Delay everyone, School has been hell…as usual. And yes, we will still do review responces.

**Roxy: Short chapter? Well don't worry we'll be updating like mad.**


	4. Hangovers and Phones

**Roxy: Another chapter. Hn…**

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Chapter 4

Vincent propped himself up to look Roxy in the face.

"Why do you have to apologize?"

"Well…I…Ok I've just been reading this book lately and it made me think all those times I've insulted Kaitlin well it was really bad of me. I mean why should I let her get to me? So I just think I should keep my mouth shut about what I think of her and to look at the positive side."

"It's true."

Vincent raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Red who had just spoken. Roxy nodded to confirm and the three sat in silence until Roxy spoke again.

"In a way really. It's me trying to redeem myself for my sins if you get what I'm saying Vincent. I'm not a good person if I make fun of her so its better just to keep it to myself and move on."

Vincent hugged Roxy tightly then left to get ready for the day.

"Don't worry about it."

Nanaki had told her, nonetheless it grinded away at her nerves for what seemed like forever until she finally signed in on her computer.

_Black Dragon signed in…_

_Karoko signed in…_

**Black Dragon: **Hey… uh Kaitlin?

**Karoko: **What do _you_ want?

**Black Dragon: **Look your not making this easy.

**Karoko: **Whateasy? Just spit it out.

**Black Dragon: **I'm sorry I told you off last night and if I ever offended you in any ways. I'm sorry for that too.

**Karoko: **…

**Karoko: **Is this some kind of joke?

**Black Dragon: **No.

**Black Dragon: **I mean it. I no longer have any sins on your case.

_Black Dragon signed out…_

Roxy sighed and logged off and got ready for the day while Vincent lay on her bed reading her book.

-----

Carmen stood at the investigation site, the old castle which the Oni leader was once living at. She glanced around, smirking as she saw a few Oni hanging around, one flew over to her.

"Yo, Carmen-Dono, long time no see" The Oni grinned happily.

Carmen laughed "Good to see you too Kuza-san. You are an Oni general, correct?"

Kuza shook his head "No, Carmen-Dono, I got promoted, but Yuzaki is the lord of the castle now"

Carmen nodded absentmindedly, Yuzaki, the Oni that lead the rebellion, recruited the rouge Oni…though that was a while back…

"I need to speak with Yuzaki-san." Carmen told Kuza before walking into the castle.

-----

There was a small knock on the door and Yuffie groggily slumped in. Vincent had left earlier to get some coffee and some advil for Roxy's hangover downstairs while Roxy struggled with the pain in her head.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Where's Vincent?"

"Downstairs getting me some advil."

"I told everyone to be quiet."

"Thanks."

"No problem I know how crappy hangovers are."

Roxy removed her arms from under her head and propped herself up sideways giving Yuffie a skeptical look.

"No kidding? I'm surprised Tifa let you drink."

"Hey I was 16 back then!"

"Agh Yuffie keep it down."

"Oh sorry."

"So what's the game plan for today?"

"Oh well Vincent was going to pop by the club we went to and try and find Carmen."

"Find Carmen? You mean she never returned home yesterday?"

"Well…I-"

Roxy's cell phone rang loudly with **Billy Talent – Fallen Leaves.**

**(Roxy changes her cell phone tune every week in case you forgot. Lol that's my tune for my cell right now.)**

"Aw for fuck sake who the fuck is this!"

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! CARMEN NEVER RETURNED HOME WHAT DO I DO!!! ROXYYYYYYYYY YOU GOTTA HELP ME WHAT IF SHE GETS HERSELF IN TROUBLE AND GETS KIDNAPPED OR RAPED OR KILLED OR OR OR…ROXY!!!"

Roxy almost threw her RAZR at the wall in contempt to shut Kadaj's whining. Hello? Hangover here?

"…little bugger…"

"What was that!? Did you say something!?"

Yuffie snatched the phone out of Roxy's rag-tag grip and screeched into the phone forgetting about the fact that the owner of the phone was having her first hangover and was on the edge of screaming herself to shut everyone who was screaming up.

"Shut the hell up you stupid, insolent, little, Sephiroth clone! Roxy is having a fucking hangover and I'll be damned if your helping it!

"Oh sorry."

Yuffie handed the phone to Roxy who was most irritated now and skipped out of the room, magically filled with vigor for the day.

"…Kadaj I just found out that Carmen didn't return home last night, Vincent is going to go to the club tonight and search from there and oh by the way."

"Yes?"

"DON'T YOU EVER **EVER **FUCKING CALL AND SCREAM IN MY EAR WHEN YOU ABSOLUTELY KNOW THAT I HAVE A HANGOVER OTHERWISE I WILL GET ON MY BIKE, STEAL CLOUD'S SWORD, AND PWN YOUR FUCKING ASS TO THE SEVEN HELLS OF YOU DON'T EVEN WANNA KNOW!"

"Yes 'mam."

Kadaj whimpered quietly as Roxy seethed angrily. She closed her phone after that and flopped back onto the bed.

"Huu…Such annoying, loud people I feel sick…"

-----

**Roxy: Sorry for the lateness again. We've been terribly busy and I got into a terrible accident involving my face. So yeah.**


	5. Search Party of one

**Roxy: omg we updated! Guys me and Carm are working on our costumes. We're cos-playing our characters in this fic! Lol well the pics will be posted on dev art when it happens so keep an eye open.**

Carmen: Wait what?

RR:

Skavnema: don't worry, shes harmless even when drunk –gets beaten by Roxy- Owwwwww…. Never mind.

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Chapter 5

Carmen stood in the halls of the Oni's castle inspecting a brutally tortured body. It was too mangled to be considered a human or an Oni.

"The poor soul…"

Carmen muttered under her breath.

"Indeed."

"GAH!"

Carmen leaped away from Rango who had suddenly appeared beside her head.

"Goddammit! What did I say about popping out of nowhere? YOU DO NOT POP OUT OF NOWHERE!!!!"

"Sorry, I was just wondering what you where doing. You didn't answer your cell phone, and that Rufus guy said that you have been missing since last night."

Carmen winced slightly, before sighing "Sorry, I've been… preoccupied lately"

"Meaning you're working too hard. You're still a kid, Carmen. Don't push yourself."

Carmen winced again at Rango's words, before retorting

"I'm not a frikking kid, I'm 17, turning 18 soon, god, get it right."

Rango laughed at Carmen's retort, before going off to look around more.

-----

Roxy awoke an hour later after taking the advil and her hangover didn't even seem to be there anymore. It was late into the afternoon and almost time for Vincent to go to the club and look for Carmen.

He walked into Roxy's room dressed in a red dress shirt and black slacks. He gave her a kiss good bye and turned his cell phone on and with the key in ignition Vincent and Roxy's M3 were gone.

Roxy lazily waved to him and shut the door then took her cell phone out of her pocket and sat at the table. Yuffie was seated across from her along with Cid who was doing a cross word puzzle.

"Ok Carmen has three cells: one for work, one for the Oni slayers, and one for personal usage the one I usually call. I have all three numbers and her home number and if I call all of them she has to pick up at least one of them."

Yuffie nodded and watched Roxy scroll through her phone list and speed dialing the numbers.

"Hello?"

"Rufus?"

"Yes. This is Rufus Shinra here."

"What are you doing answering Carmen's home phone?"

"I live here don't I?"

"…Is Carmen home?"

"No. Wh-"

Roxy hung up and tried Carmen's cell.

"Hello?"

"Rufus?! What are you doing with Carmen's personal cell phone?"

"Nothing."

"Then why did you answer it!"

"It was just sitting on the table ringing. So I answered it."

"…"

Roxy hung up and called Carmen's work number.

"Hello?"

"Rufus!"

"Yes?"

"Don't tell me Carmen left her work cell on the table too."

"Yes."

"…"

Roxy hung up and tried the Oni Slayer cell. Rufus won't answer this one she was sure of it.

"Hello?"

"Dammit!"

Roxy hung up and sighed. What was Rufus doing with THREE cell phones?

-----

Carmen sighed as she glanced at the body that Kuza and some other rouge Oni were dragging away. Human, she could tell. No magical traces, so killed by struggle. And like all others… She turned again to the body. It had no head, and the weapon had vanished.

She slowly examined the wounds on the body. Long slash marks, and bullet holes. With grim satisfaction, she concluded that Deepground was here. No mistaking it. She took out her palm pilot, and then text messaged the Slayer Base.

_Reports of 'Unknown Slayer has been murdered by Deepground' are confirmed. His weapons as well as his head are missing. The small intestines are missing as well, presumably eaten by stray Oni or demon. Rest of Slayer squad's location is unknown._

Carmen sighed as she pressed the send button. She didn't know why, but the air was…Ominous… Something bad was to happen. Carmen pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. She was informed only very few details, that Deepground was lurking around here and the slayer squad they dispatched had mysteriously disappeared.

Something was up with the slayers. They were dispatching squads here and there to clean up the mess left behind by the Onis. Surely they would have it cleaned up by now, and why exactly were Deepground still here? Shouldn't they gave gone back by now preparing for Omega incident?

"Carmen! Carmen!"

Carmen turned her head to see Rango quickly running up to her. He stopped in front of her, panting hard then finally spoke.

"We found the weapons and heads of the murdered squad and… found something of interest."

-----

**Roxy: This is short for a reason. I accidentally got a writing boost and ended up with 9 pages long of story. So we cut it up into itty bitty pieces…Yeah…**

Carmen: And now we have to do a long boring, editing job of the whole damn thing. I blame you, Roxy. Ow, Shit! I got hit in the face with a metal baseball bat on Thursday. It hurts like hell… Now I have a huge bruise on my face.


	6. Cheating and Hurting

Carmen:

**Roxy: …**

-----

Chapter 6

Vincent walked into the club and sat down at the bar hoping to find some clues. He tried to remain inconspicuous and unrecognized and ditched his headband and boots. His hair was in a ponytail and he had removed his trademark golden claw.

"Hey hon what would you like to drink?"

Vincent peered up at the woman who was giving him a warm smile and was polishing a wine glass. He closed his eyes and opened them again speaking in his deep voice with a small smirk plastered on his face.

"Do you have a bottle of 1994 red wine?"

"Oh I think so hon. A fancy pants 1994 glass of wine coming right up."

When his wine arrived Vincent sipped it with contempt at first then savored the taste. Roxy _was _right. This year of wine was pretty good it has a unique taste to it for sure. He let his thoughts wander while looking for any participants who might know any information on the Oni Slayer's whereabouts.

"Hey there sexy."

He heard a few times and ignored them. But when a girl sat beside him and gave him a long hard stare he finally turned to see who it was. Kaitlin, the girl Roxy had tried to make amends with. Did she recognize him?

"Hello there. May I ask you to please stop with the staring it's quite rude."

Kaitlin ordered a glass of pop and spoke cheerfully.

"I don't know but you look familiar a bit do I know you anywhere?"

"No."

Vincent wearily spoke while downing his glass of wine. If she recognized him, and people found out whom he was his chances at finding anyone, Oni or Slayer, would be blown. He asked for a martini this time and continued his conversation with Kaitlin.

"Hi I'm Kaitlin you?"

Vincent frowned and scrolled his mind for a name. He remembered Roxy calling him Vinnie-baby all the time and altered it.

"Sven."

"So Sven what are you doing here?"

Vincent finished his martini and ordered another one. He was really nervous and knew that if he was careless his plan would fuck up and Roxy would be pissed at him for not finding where her friend is.

"Relaxing."

"Cool. So are you single?"

What should he say? If he said no would she start to recognize him? If he said yes then what? Could this Kaitlin girl hold any useful information, could she gain any information for him?

"It depends who's asking."

"Oh so the mysterious type hm?"

Vincent's head was feeling a bit fuzzy as he downed his third glass of alcohol. The barkeep arrived with another martini and gave him a wink. He was losing his focus but he didn't seem to mind. Downing the martini which seemed to be really strong, Vincent stumbled out of his chair and turned to Kaitlin.

"Would you please excuse me miss. I need to freshen up."

He spoke smoothly; he headed towards the restrooms and tried to clear his head of these thoughts. It had to be the alcohol he assured himself. But was it really his buried feelings his heart told him vacantly. A man brushed past him on the way to the door and when Vincent stood in front of the sink staring at his image the same man came out of a stall and washed his hands.

"Vincent Valentine ex-Turk, member of AVALANCHE and currently dating Roxy Yang, what ever are you of all people doing here in a club of all people?"

Vincent's intoxication made his mind slow but he still registered the sign on the man's hand; the Oni Slayer's mark.

"An Oni Slayer hm? Just the person I was looking for. I was sent on a mission by Ms. Yang to find the whereabouts of her dear friend Carmen Lowe. She is part of the Oni Slayers, I presume you know where she is. Am I correct?"

As a Turk it was important to be formal when dealing with business. Vincent had a knack for calling upon those skills when he needed them.

"I do. That is classified info though."

Vincent grabbed the guy's shirt and pushed him up against the wall, snarling.

"You better tell me. I'm not in a good mood and if you knew I was an ex-Turk then you must know my past with Hojo. Chaos lusts for blood right now."

Maybe it was the alcohol he wasn't even sure anymore. Vincent felt like he could do anything right now and right now he wanted the information. It was his mission and he was going to complete it.

"S-Sure. Carmen's on a mission right now exploring the Oni Lair. We heard Deepground were still lurking around the w-wreck and got our best team to check it out and gather d-data."

Vincent stopped growling menacingly and dropped the man. He walked to the rest room exit and stopped at the door.

"Where are the sightings of the Deepground?"

"It s-seems they've created a portal between Gaia and this world. More are coming here wreaking h-havoc. It's keeping most of our S-slayer's busy. Th-they're after your girl but we've managed to stop them from reaching her in a 10 mile r-radius. I don't want to admit it but soon they'll override us and…I don't want to know what will happen then."

"What are your plans at stopping this threat?"

"The only way we can is to stop it from the source. The Slayers we've sent so far have been…Killed in Action…"

"How do you know this?"

"Their heads have been sent back to us perched on the weapons they use. We've closed our portal to Gaia in order to block off Deepground. We don't know any other way to enter other than falling right into their lair on the other side."

Vincent left and relaxed. He held onto this information while his head cleared of anything else. He was now completely drunk and Vincent had no idea what he was doing.

-----

"This is…incredible."

Carmen whispered. Rango had been searching through the Oni Lair and came upon a locked door. He finally managed to break it down and found this.

"Because of the reality we live in, stuff like phoenix downs and other stuff from Gaia do not affect us here. It seems the Oni Leader was experimenting with phoenix downs. It shows right here in the formula that by altering the base of the item he was able to make it work in this realm. Though by the looks of it he only accomplished in completing one."

"…I get most of it but Rango you're speaking mostly nerd."

"Rug maybe still alive."

"…Oh…What do we do about this? Does the Elder already know?"

"We have him on the phone. He's been notified."

"Okay then what about the murdered squad?"

Rango looked away and placed his gloved hand on the marble counter that had millions of experiments performed on top of it. Carmen sighed and lifted her hand up. Rango placed his palm pilot in her hand and when Carmen looked at the pictures there she gasped.

The missing heads were placed upon the weapon. A sword stabbed cleanly through one head, a gun blade shoved into another head, a spear through an ear and out the other, a rapier stabbed head first through another head the end of it showing through where the head and neck were suppose to connect, and finally the leader's wave sword stabbed into his head like antlers.

The sight was gruesome and Carmen almost threw up from staring at the digitally taking photos. She handed the palm pilot back to Rango and ran a hand through her hair. What the hell were Deepground after? Was Rug controlling them?

-----

Roxy sighed and tried calling Vincent's phone for the fifth time. He still didn't answer and she was getting really worried. Yuffie stopped Roxy from pacing and dangled the keys of her motorcycle in front of her face.

"Come on we can go to the club and get him."

"That's three on a motorcycle that's only for two people."

"I'll take a taxi."

"Let's go."

Roxy revved her motorcycle while Yuffie clung to her, scared about the fact that she may fall off and crack her skull open spilling her brains all over the pavement, which made Roxy wish she hadn't made the comment earlier.

When they arrived at the club Roxy walked in and immediately spotted Vincent kissing Kaitlin who was wide-eyed and motionless. When Vincent saw Roxy shocked he snapped out of his intoxicated state and ran up to her.

"Look I was drunk and didn't kn-"

"Cut the bull shit Vincent the evidence is plain and visible. I'm not blind."

"Sven? Roxy what are you doing here?"

"Leaving."

Roxy turned to leave and Vincent grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him and Vincent's heart painfully banged against his chest. Her eyes… were so hollow it made him want to fill them up with the emotion that use to be there.

"Please just let me explain. Please."

Vincent begged as he whispered the last word out. Roxy shook herself out of his grip and walked outside getting the motorcycle started. Yuffie glared at him and put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

"Man Vincent I knew you were heart-broken about Lucrecia and yada yada. But think about others for a change, Roxy is feeling like shit now! Why did you have to go and do that? I thought you were a gentleman not some degrading ass-sucker! You know what? Leave Roxy alone until you're fully ready to accept the fact that you hurt her a lot! Geez that was like giving her a slap across the face you know! You better apologize big time mister; god just looking at you makes me wanna rip your eyes out! You're a disgrace Vincent!"

Vincent watched Yuffie stalk out of the club and heard a motorcycle drive off into the distance.

He had to leave.

It was for the best.

He would fix this by himself.

And keep her safe.

-----

Carmen finished up her inspection of the Oni Lair and her squad headed back to her house. Rufus greeted Carmen cheerily but dropped the smile when she gave him a scowl.

"Oh your friend called. In fact I believe she left two messages on your phone."

"Thanks Rufus."

Carmen walked over and picked up her personal cell. As Rufus said two messages were left, she checked them.

"_God dammit Carmen answer your cell! Once I find out where you are I'm going to give you a hard kick up the ass! Anyways Vincent is back to the club we went to for my stupid party so if your still there notify him. You can't miss him he's pretty recognizable anyways later and tell Rufus to stop answering your frikken phones!"_

Carmen rolled her eyes and listened to the next message. Her eyebrows furrowed when she heard Yuffie's voice she checked the number and it was Roxy's cell. Why was Yuffie using her cell?

"_Hey Carmen, Vincent went to the club and he got… well drunk. Roxy finally got too worried and drove there I went along and she saw Vincent kissing Kaitlin. She's pretty torn up and…-a few held in cries- He left. She doesn't know yet, she's still asleep but please if you hear this message get over here. I don't know what to do."_

Carmen froze. Vincent left? He kissed Kaitlin? What the hell exactly happened while she was gone? 'If that's a prank call from Yuffie and Roxy I'm so going to kick both of their asses.'

-----

**Roxy: I will luff everyone who reviews. REVIEW DATTEBAYO!**


	7. Leaving and arriving

**Roxy: I luff you to those who reviewed! Dattebayo!**

Carmen: Roxy is in a Naruto mood lately… Review or I'll kill you! (Gaara)

-----

Chapter 7

Roxy didn't awake until late into the afternoon. The image of Vincent and Kaitlin kissing kept replaying in her mind practically keeping her up for what seemed like forever. Yuffie peered in with a warm mug of tea.

"Oh you're awake."

"Yeah. How's Vincent?"

Yuffie hesitated and handed the mug to Roxy.

"Here why don't you just see for yourself?"

Roxy gave her a weird look and walked out of her room. When she turned to peer into Vincent's room there was no sign of him. His gun, materia, and his clothes that he had arrived in were gone along with the man himself. The mug slipped out of Roxy's hand and crashed to the ground as she ran into the room.

She noticed a note on the table and immediately grabbed it. She heard voices in the background.

"_Carmen…"_

"_Yuffie? Oh yeah can you stop with the prank calls?"_

"_Carmen…"_

Yuffie whispered as she started to sob.

"_He really left…"_

-----

Holding one hand over her mouth and the other hand holding the note Roxy read it and re-read it again while listening to Yuffie's held in sobs racket throughout the empty room.

_Dear Roxanne,_

_I'm so sorry about hurting your feelings._

_Maybe this relationship was a mistake._

_That's why I've chosen to leave you and your generosity._

_And start a new life somewhere else._

_I will not tell you of my whereabouts._

_And do not try to contact me._

_This is my good-bye letter to you and…thank you for everything._

_- Sincerely Vincent Valentine_

I gasped at the shock of the news, he couldn't have left. He didn't even say good-bye. A good-bye letter wasn't what a good bye was. I never thought how much I loved him until now but the sudden pain inflicted in my heart hit me like a tidal wave.

I curled up on the ground trying to stop the pain from destroying my body. Dry sobs escaped my lips and I shivered uncontrollably. I was feeling weak and I felt myself drifting back to the empty darkness I was in before.

"Roxy! Roxanne!"

I faintly heard her voice. The one to pull me out of the darkness my best friend could only do so much. She was still not him.

"No he didn't…I need to get her to her bed! Rango!"

I felt warm arms surround my always cold body no comfort was found and I let another dry sob escape.

-----

Cait Sith waved sadly at the gunslinger.

"Good bye Vincent. Good luck on your mission!"

Vincent nodded a farewell to the robotic cat. Reeve was asleep with Shalua when he had slipped into their room to retrieve the AVALANCHE member. Explaining his situation to the robot, Cait Sith unwillingly agreed and started up the portal. It was for the best. A clean break for her, he would save her and would never hurt her again and she… She would know nothing of the situation at all; she would never know her life was in danger, or that he was saving it.

Vincent landed on the ground with a clink of his boots and stood up slowly. He smirked to himself; how ironic…Nibelheim.

He had asked Cait Sith to drop him off near the source of it all. Who knew it was here of all places. Vincent knew he was not to run into himself otherwise there might've been a few problems. Thankfully he remembered that he was in Edge right now staying at Seventh Heaven with the rest of Avalanche. He wouldn't be back for a few months.

Vincent set off to scout the place and create a plan to eliminate the threat to his love.

-----

Roxy lay in bed motionless while Carmen was seated beside the bed reading a book. Nanaki was nuzzled up against Roxy trying his best to comfort her.

"Tell me what happened."

Roxy explained the whole thing and started to dryly sob. Great she couldn't even cry. Roxy just sobbed even harder at the unfairness of everything, couldn't she be normal and have tears come out of her eyes just like every other human? No she had to have vampire genes mixed into her molecular structure causing her to be abnormal.

Weeks passed, yet nothing changed. Carmen was sent to more and more missions from the Oni Slayers and barely got to see Roxy. Yuffie and Yazoo seemed to be the only comfort Roxy could find with the loss of half of her heart.

She felt so hollow it hurt so much. Yuffie was there to comfort her by day and Yazoo was there to comfort her by night. It was an arrangement they made, ever since Vincent left Roxy had nightmares of terrible things happening to him: Bloody gruesome deaths.

Yazoo heard her cry out one night and rocked her in his arms whispering words of comfort. After that Yazoo would sleep beside her every night and no more outbursts happened. Yazoo didn't mind, Roxanne was his love and he despised Vincent for leaving.

Putting her in this state made Yazoo so mad at Valentine it made him want to wish the worst possible things to him. Roxy after 4 weeks of wasting her life, decided to change things. She started to disappear every night and come back haggard and tired. Yazoo never asked any questions and helped hugged her when she needed comfort.

One night Yazoo felt himself questioning his feelings for Roxy. He no longer felt like he loved her in a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of way but more of an older brother/little sister thing. The more he thought on the subject the more he realized the truth of it.

It seemed Roxy had realized this a long time ago and things started to make sense. Why she didn't pursue a romantic relationship with him. Why she found comfort in him. When Roxy arrived fatigued that night Yazoo hugged her tightly and stood that way for a long time. Neither seemed to mind and finally the bond between the two was clear.

------

Carmen sighed as she went through all the security camera tapes that they had from the Oni Lair, but they were useless. Carmen shut them off, sighing, before looking around her office. Things were dull really. She sighed as she contemplated, before glancing at the door, which opened a few seconds ago.

"mind if I come in, Carmen?" Rango, who was still holding the door knob , asked as he steped forward a little

"You just did, so no, not really." She replied, sighing as she looked up at the celing, leaning back on her chair as Rango sat in front of the desk.

"About the Slain Slayers, Is there any tape which shows the killers of our comrads?" He asked, as he tousled his thick navy blue hair. Carmen glanced at Rango, before shaking her head. "Damn..."

"But I did see something interesting" She sighed, before taking out her whiskey. Rango glared at the drink, slightly shocked.

"Closet alcohalic?"

"Yea, but only a little. Doesn't matter. Alcohal isn't nearly as deadly as oni"

"Yes, it is."

Carmen rolled her eyes, but said nothing else on the matter, before putting the drink away. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Rango spoke

"So how are things going between you and that Kadaj kid?"

Carmen glanced at Rango, who seemed to have stated it mildly, but also with a little bit of curiosity in his voice.

"Things are going great, although he's been...Quieter" She responded, while Rango snorted

"I don't trust him really. You did say that in his world, he was like an oni."

"He's changed, Rango. Kadaj is a nice guy."

"Oh really? Does he ever do anything that pisses you off, and makes you hate him?"

"Why are you asking this all of the sudden?"

"..."

-----

**Roxy: Yup some fast forwarding cuz my life is pretty boring at that time. Realization for Yazoo-baby! Yeah I luff you Yazoo but like a bro an awesome kick ass bro!**

Carmen: I swear, sometimes, I think I'm not the one on antidepressants –inches away from Roxy.-


	8. Confusion and Battles

Carmen: Well, sorry for the long wait for the next chapter of FF. But first, Review responses.

Roxy: What review responses seriously. There is NONE.

Carmen: Roxy, you moron, theres two.

Oh yea, before that, please please please, we need reviews, it lets us know how well we are doing.

Skavnema: Thanks! And really, she is harmless.

Audra Kaiba Advent ID 001: Thankies!!!

---

Carmen sighed under her breath as she looked over the last of the tapes, though she knew there was nothing on it. No, her mind had wandered, and was now focusing on Rango. Why on earth would he be more interested in what she was doing now, especially her relationship with Kadaj. It wasn't the first time he had shown interest in their relationship. Over the past few weeks, he, Rango, had been cornering Carmen about it, and often replied, when she asked why he was curious, that he was worried about her. She thought it was weird, because Rango didn't really care about it all before, but now...

Carmen shook her head, before rubbing her temples, as she reached for a drawer in her desk. She pulled it open, before drawing out a flask of scotch, as well as some butterscotch sauce. She poured out the scotch in a small shot glass, before drizzling some butterscotch on top in a grid pattern. While she did that, Rango walked in, sighing in slight frustration. He noticed her with the drink, before chuckling quietly.

"Mind pouring me a glass, Carmen?" He asked, smiling at the younger slayer. Said slayer looked up, and then paled slightly. Rango noticed this, before sitting down in a chair in her view. "Not going to bust you, I just want a drink. Preferably with raspberry on top." He added, looking at the butterscotch in Carmen's right hand. She nodded, before pouring him a shot of scotch as well, taking out a tube of raspberry sauce, before pouring the syrup on the tiny amount of drink. She poured the raspberry in a spiral, before handing it to Rango. He smiled as he took it, thanking Carmen before downing the thing, as Carmen turned on the radio, which was currently playing 1000 miles by Vanessa Carlton.

"Ugh, not more of this crap." She sighed, as she moved to turn off the radio, but Rango stopped her, a ghost of a smile on his face. Carmen looked at him, an eyebrow raised as he replied.

"I like this song."

"...Huh."

The two sat in silence, occasionally raising their glasses to drink from, listening to the voice on the radio.

_"..And I need you. And I miss you. And now I wonder... And If I Could fall, into the sky, do you think, time would pass me by. Cause I'd walk a thousand miles, if I could just see you. Tonight."_

Carmen finished her Scotch, before pouring some water into the glass, as Rango looked at Carmen, an eyebrow raised

"Hey, how come you're not intoxicated?" Rango asked, earning a smirk from Carmen.

"I boiled the alcohol out, so it still has the flavour, but no alcohol, so technically, it's not an alcoholic beverage."

The voice on the radio changed to the DJ.

_"Enough of this __sappy crap, n__ow time for Three Days Grace's Animal I have Become!"_

"Sweet." Carmen smirked, as Rango rolled his eyes.

"The Slayer radio needs a new DJ." He grumbled under his breath, his eye on Carmen, who was singing along to the song.

---

Roxy bent down and hefted up her giant sword and placed it into its sash that was strapped to her back, she was going out again just like every night, to do some business. Yazoo leaned against her doorway and eyed her warily.

"You're going out again?"

She nodded and made to leave her room when an arm shot its self on the other side, blocking her path. She turned to look at Yazoo as he looked at her with an equal glare plastered on his face. She narrowed her eyes and growled.

"Move your arm Yazoo, before I rip it off with my own two hands."

"No. It's been 2 months since **he** left and all you do is use me and come home every dawn all battered and bruised without telling me anything. I want some answers."

"I don't _use _you Yazoo. You're throwing this thing way out of proportion."

"No you are. When was the last time you smiled or hung out or even left this house except for these nightly 'walks'."

Roxy blanked and scowled back at Yazoo's triumphant expression. She pushed past his arm and headed down the stairs before arms encircled her being.

"Yazoo get lost. I'm not telling you."

"No Roxanne you're telling me."

"..."

She sighed and lifted her hands up to where his arms held onto her tightly. She gently removed them and turned around to face him.

"Come with me tonight. Do not get involved no matter what I do even if I'm dying. Do you understand?"

"But I would have to step in if you're dying."

"No you're going to stand there and watch me die and not interfere. Because you will pretend to be a ghost which means you won't be able to do anything. Got it?"

Yazoo hesitated then nodded in consent. He returned moments after with his gun and followed after Roxy's fast pace. She walked into the garage and picked up the keys to her Volvo. She handed them to Yazoo who looked at her questioningly.

"And these are for...?"

"Your driving. I'm running the way there."

"But-"

"I've recorded a map vocally just in case this ever happened. Just play the CD and follow my directions and you'll get there."

Yazoo nodded and watched as she bounded off into the dark.

_'Man she's still as fast as ever.'_

---

Carmen packed up her gray-black messenger bag with several papers, as well as her laptop, before heading out her office, pausing as she passed by the oak doors of the briefing chamber. She glanced around, noting no one was around. A small smirk came across her face, before pressing her ear to the door, her curiosity overcoming her. Rango had left a few minutes ago, saying he was going to be briefed, so maybe he was in here.

He was, and his voice practically exploded in Carmen's ears. She winced slightly, pulling her head back a few inches, as she rubbed her ears, but she did hear what he had shouted quite easily.

"If we do this, DEEPGROUND will have a chance to enter our realm again, so why on earth do we have to send her away?!?!?" Rango's voice snarled. Carmen figured that the elders wouldn't yell, so she pressed her ear to the door once more.

"Because, Rango, It has reached our ears that the Ex-turk Vincent Valentine has returned to his realm, and the Oni Slayers need to protect Miss Roxanne Yang, who is obviously planning to go after him. I daresay that it is a safe bet she will. But in the meantime, Senior Slayer Carmen will have to accompany them. She would prove enough backup for Roxanne, as well two other choice people. They will be sufficient. No more are allowed to go." The voice of Elder Suth wavered out calmly. Carmen smirked quietly, before pulling her head away once more.

"Well, why can't more of the slayers go?" Rango shouted. Elder Suth answered calmly.

"You shall ask Miss Roxanne if you would like more details. She might just take two extra people along, but currently, our knowledge isn't that complete." Suth's voice waivered from the conference room door as Carmen headed out the door back home.

"I need a drink..." she mumbled to herself under her breath, pushing the doors open to the atrium of the building, before heading to the elevators down to the parking lot. She let out a small sigh, as she arrived at the iron gate that blocked stupid people from falling down the elevator shaft. She pressed the bronze button labled down, before waiting for the elevator.

"Allo, Carmen-san." A voice, laced with a thick southern accent, called out to her left. She turned, before smiling at the owner of the voice

"Gotz! You're finally out of the hospital wing?" Carmen grinned, looking at the man, who was wearing the Slayer coat, who had a large bandage on his arm, his other in a sling. He was also in a wheel chair

"E'Yup. I got out just now. How are you, Carmen-san, been alright?" He asked. Carmen smirked before replying to the man. They made light talk until the elevator came. Carmen wheeled Gotz in, before descending down to the parking lot, where Carmens Camry waited.

---

Roxy ran towards the area she would always go to every night. She arrived there and waited to Yazoo to catch up. He pulled over and walked up to her.

"Now what? There's just a cliff."

"You watch from here Yazoo and remember no interference."

Roxy then turned around and unsheathed her sword before running off the cliff. Yazoo called after her and watched as she fell to her suicide. Without warning as she neared the bottom of the valley, black wings spread out from her back and she landed on the ground smoothly.

The wings folded themselves into her back and disappeared and she hefted her sword onto her shoulder. Onis started to appear in great numbers and she hacked and slashed at them, she started slicing through them with one arm while shooting at any that came near.

When she killed all the onis in the area, she then put her sword away and knelt down. Without warning she shot up the cliff and arrived back in front of the shocked Yazoo breathing hard with a few cuts on her body.

"You do that every night?"

"Yes it's training for me."

"Need a drive home?"

"That would be nice."

Roxy commented as Yazoo picked her up and set her into the car. She groaned and set her head against the window after he closed the door and climbed into the driver's seat. He stared at her worried and drove back to the house.

---

Carmen sighed as she walked through the doors to her home, only to face near strangulation as Kadaj glomped her at mach two.

"OhmygodCarmenwherethehellhaveyoubeenthesepastfewdays? Ihavebeenworriedsickandyoudidn'thaveanyofyourphonesonyousowecouldn'tcall" he took a breath, before continuing. "IfyoueverdothatagainIwouldnotknowwhatIwoulddo!!!" he finished, before stepping back, as Carmen took several gulps of precious oxygen, vaguely noting that Rufus had obviously not told him anything. _Then again... They're always at each other's throats, even after I told them to stop it._ She thought to herself, before replying, completely understanding what he had just said.

"I was away on slayer business. That's all you need to know for now. Now, where is everyone?" Carmen asked, as she looked around, slightly confused, before her eyes rested on Kadaj, who was currently wearing a gray t-shirt with a green phoenix thing on it, and a pair of black yoga pants with the same insignia on it, only in white. "Why are you wearing my gym uniform?" she added, an eyebrow raised. Kadaj blushed for a few seconds, before replying.

"Oh...It was in my pile of clothing, so I decided to wear it. I don't know where Reno and Rude are in the study room, Elena is in the kitchen, Tseng is probably in the training room, I'm not sure, and Shinra just went to take a bath." Kadaj shuddered at the thought, "Oh and Carmen, Loz is over." His voice came down to a whisper. "Lisa broke up with him. She told him that she preferred hanging out with her friends, and she liked someone who wasn't that clingy. Poor guy..." he sighed, before walking into the living room, Carmen following as she looked at the burly silver-haired man, garbed in his leather clothing, who was sitting on her couch, his face in his hands, and his elbows on his knees.

"Loz? You ok?" Carmen asked as she sat down beside said man, cautiously placing a hand on his shoulder. She noticed that his shoulders were quivering, as he silently sobbed. A shake of the head from him made her give him a hug, Kadaj sitting down on Loz's other side.

"Cheer up, Loz. Every cloud has a silver lining."

"Not this one." His voice, scratchy since he had been crying, cried out from the gloved hands. Carmen looked at him for a few seconds, before standing up.

"Tell you what, Loz, I'll let you use the training grounds. Normally, I use it to practice, so it can withstand a lot of damage. You can take your sorrow out there." She smiled, before looking at Kadaj. "Maybe you can escort him there?" she added, her head tilted to the side like a hawk watching its prey, and for a brief moment, she had an expression like that. Kadaj winced before nodding.

"Come on, Loz. Nii-san will help you now." He smiled at his brother, before the two revenants stood up, heading for the training grounds.

Carmen watched them for a few seconds, before sighing in envy.

"Wish I got along with my brothers like that." She grumbled, before heading off to change from her slayer clothing into something more casual.

---

Roxy gathered her things and grabbed her sword. She went down the stairs and passed by the living room to remind Yazoo of her number. He looked up from the book he was reading to look at her.

"Going out again?"

"Yeah."

She said lamely. Yazoo nodded and spoke again.

"Your cell phone is going to be on right?"

"Yeah."

"See you at dawn."

"Kay."

She left and returned to the same cliff again. She cleaned off the onis that always gathered there and sighed as she realized her decision. It started raining.

---

Carmen: Well, Theres the chappie!!! Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Roxy: Hn...


	9. Pain and Memories

Carmen: Ok, since everyone is still busy with school, and I'm bored as hell, I'm going to do another chapter of... Fleeting Faith! Roxy won't be saying anything this chappy since technically, I'm sitting in math class, and she isn't in my class. The chapter mainly centers on the Turks and their stupidity in the home.

FF9: Filler crap

---

Reno groaned in anger, before looking over at Rude, who was currently reading a long boring news article on a bunch of kids who fell off the side of a mountain.

"Rude, Yo," Reno started, only to get a glance from Rude, which obviously said _Shut-up-I'm-reading-something-and-if-you-bother-me-one-more-time-you-will-lose-your-legs. _Reno sighed, before standing up with a "I'm gonna go play that Play Station thing, yo." He let out another sigh, before walking to the entertainment room in the basement.

The basement seemed quite nice, since Carmen was the only under-aged person in the house. She had once said that she wasn't an only child, and that she had two older brothers, but one was in a city called Ottawa working on some engineering, and the other one was in USA in some university of game design. But because Carmen was mostly away, the house was normally neat, and if it wasn't Elena would see to it that it was. He sighed, as he watched Carmen's mother walk by, carrying a Chinese magazine.

"Hello Mrs. Lowe. How are you today?" He greeted, smiling at the woman, who returned his greeting with a smile on her face, before going back upstairs. He smirked, before heading to the entertainment room, the first meeting with Carmen's parents reeling in his head.

_Flashback, to right after the Turks arrived._

_Mrs. Lowe __was straightening some of her coats in her cold room when her daughter knocked on the door. "Come in" She smiled, and when the door swung open, she raised an eyebrow. There stood her d__aughter__ with about five people behind her. Mrs. Lowe frowned, because Carmen didn't say she was having friends over, and that other kid that she brought home before wasn't there._

_"Mom, these are some friends of mine. Can they stay at our house for an __indefinite__ amount of time?" Carmen asked cautiously, looking at her mom, who in turn was glancing at her daughter's friends. They were standing in the hall, _

_A man in a white suit with blond hair which hit his collar, standing up tall with what looked like a gun hidden in his belt, stood in front of the small group. Beside him on his right was a bald man with sunglasses on, even though they were in the basement. He too, wore a suit__, only it was black, as was his__ tie. Behind him stood a strange looking, younger man, with red blazing hair which he had tied into a ponytail, and matching streaks on his cheek__bones. He was dressed almost__ as__ formally__ the first two, except for the fact that he lacked a tie, and three buttons were loose. On the other side of the man in the white suit, stood a woman, her blond hair done formally, one side slightly longer than the other, but still __only hitting the collar of her dress shirt, with similar suits as the men, only she wore a skirt that went down to her knees instead of the dress pants. And finally, the last one had black hair slightly over his shoulders, but also wore an identical suit, like the others. Carmen glanced sheepishly at her mother,who was looking at her daughter with her eyebrows raised._

_"Lou Ga Mun, yee de yun hai been goh?" she asked, switching to cantonese (Translated: Carmen, who are these people?)_

_"Xing Hai dee pun yow." Carmen replied, her sheepish smile still on her face. (Translated: Just some friends.)_

_"Deen guy koi day hai yee dow a?" Mrs Lowe asked cautiously. (Translated: Why are they here?)_

_"Yut mai..." Carmen began, before si__ghing, as she switched back to E__nglish, due to the fact she wasn't all t__hat good at speaking C__antonese. "Because they don't have anywhere to go, and they're new to the country." She finished, only for the blond haired man to open his mouth. Carmen, noticing this, elbowed him in the side, a glare in her eyes._

_"Oh, yes, we moved from..." he looked at his hands,__ noticing a __pamphlet__ for a place__ called Japan, "Japan." He finished meekly._

_"Why don't they have an accent?" Mrs. Lowe asked __suspiciously_

_"We have studied the E__nglish language __thoroughly__ enough to not have the Japanese accent." Rude replied simply, only for Tseng, to add_

_"And also, we originated from America. I promise our stay here won't be too long. Please forgive us." He bowed, Mrs. Lowe taken aback by this__, not noticing__ her daughter silently laughing behind her._

_"Oh, its no trouble." She smiled, before turning to Carmen, who by now had stopped laughing. "I trust you can bring your friends to the rooms they need."__Carmen nodded, before walking o__ut of the slightly chilly cold __room. As they headed up the stairs, Ca__r__men turned to them, a grin on her face. "From Japan but originated from America?" she asked, before laughing.__Rude and Tseng just shrugged._

_End flashback_

Reno laughed, as he entered the entertainment room, which seemed quite nice. It had the same color of wall as every other room, white, but the hardwood floor was covered by a large rug, which, as he was told by Carmen's oldest brother (When they were back for new years) that Carmen had made it when she was sixteen, and it took her three months. There was a large television at the back of the room, with several game engines around it. He could recognize the Play-Station 2, Xbox360, and Game-cube, but not the other two. A DVD player was also attached the television, and it was all in front of a three seat leather couch. To the right side of the room were three old desktop computers (Carmen told him that two of them were her brothers, and the third was hers, but she hated it.) on top of a cherry oak table. To the other side of the room, there was a small exercise room-like area, with those weird large balls, jump ropes, treadmill, and a bunch of other things Reno didn't know the name for. He admired the room, before walking over to the television. He smiled, before looking at the small collection of Play-Station two games, then at the Xbox 360 ones. He never bothered with the Game-Cube games, mainly because most of them were Carmen's. One game caught his eye. It was called Kingdom Hearts 2. He picked it up, and then put it into the play-station.

---

Elena smiled, as she chopped up some carrots. She was in the kitchen upstairs, undisturbed by anyone, even Tseng, because he was working on something in the study room. She glanced at the recipe in the cook book, before emptying the chopping board's contents of carrots, celery, and onions into a wok with chopped beef on it. At that time, Mr. Lowe, Carmen's father, had walked in with a lot of papers. He settled down at the table, working on several things. Elena shrugged, before going back to her cooking, humming happily as she flipped the eggs on the pan, as they crackled and sizzled happily. She sprinkled a little bit of salt on the eggs, and then turned to the soup she was making. The red carrots had bobbed up, and the smell of the pork wavered out invitingly. She gave it a gentle stir, before turning to the congee, which had black eggs, and salty pork. Carmen's grandmother had given her the recipe (Carmen had to translate for her.) and it tasted delicious. She ladled a bit out, before pouring it back in. She hummed as she turned back to the stir fry. She turned everything to a low heat, before her mind drifted off.

_Flashback_

_Elena was humming as she walked back into the house, pushing the door open with ease, when she noticed two extra pairs of shoes in the foyer. She was slightly surprised, but she just shrugged. Brian and Dennis, Carmen's brothers were coming over soon, but she didn't know that it would be that soon. Oh well! She hummed as she headed to the kitchen, but frowned when she heard someone was already cooking and arguing in angry Chinese at whoever they were with. Elena, reaching for her gun, peered into the kitchen, and was surprised to see an elderly couple, in the kitchen, with Carmen sitting at the kitchen table, working on her homework. Carmen looked up, before smiling at Elena_

_"Umm.. Hey Carmen," Elena began, heading over to the Slayer, who pulled out a chair._

_"Yea? Oh, These are my grandparents." Carmen grinned, gesturing to the two chefs, who were currently stir-frying something "Whenever they come over, they insist on cooking, no matter what I say." She grinned, before standing up and walking to them_

_"Goung Goung. Paw Paw" she began, talking to the grandparents (Translated: Grandpa, Grandma)_

_"Ah, Mui Mui. Yee go hai bean gouh?" The elderly Chinese woman asked, gesturing to Elena, who smiled. (Translated: __Mui Mui is what the youngest girl is called__ So__ she said '__ Ah, Little girl, who is this?__'_

_"Yee gouh hai ga pun yow. Coui ga men hai Elena" she smiled, As Elena walked over, before smiling.__(Translated: This is my friend. Her name is Elena.)_

_"Ah, Hello" the older woman greeted, in slightly bad English__, to which Elena smiled, _

_"Hello" Elena replied __pleasantly__, before looking at the food they were cooking. "This smells really good" she smiled, to which the Elderly woman looked puzzled._

_"She can't speak English." Carmen replied, before translating for Elena._

_For the rest of the hour, they spent their time discussing recipes, Carmen and her mother translating for Elena._

_End Flashback_

Elena hummed happily as she finished cooking the congee, before setting the table. Ah... the joys of cooking.

---

Tseng stretched in his chair, before looking at the computer screen he was focussing on. He had just finished typing up a very long story, or at least, a chapter. He let out a yawn, before saving it under the name _Painful__ Dawn Chapter 120_ which he planned to post online. He smiled, before switching to the internet, as a large popup for some pornographic site appeared. He frowned, before clicking the red X. He then typed in _ the address bar, before signing in. He then clicked his story, adding the chapter, though it would take about a few minutes, as his mind drifted back to that popup. He sighed, before going to the romance section of the site, only for another popup to appear. He frowned once more, clicking it closed, but accidentally clicking the center of another that popped up. He swore under his breath, before noticing the site that came up. Quickly, he clicked it closed, his face redder than blood. He looked around, to make sure no one saw him with that window open, before he noticed ten pop-ups already up. He screamed, before closing them all, accidentally clicking them all, as several pornographic, offer, and retarded sites popped up. He let out a roar of anger, before the blue screen of doom popped up. His laptop then shut off by itself, stopping his upload on the internet. He banged his head against the table, practically crying._

Few minutes later, he found his file corrupted, and he had to make the 20 page chapter over again.

Mr. Shinra always said "beware the evil pop-ups." Now Tseng knew why.

---

Rufus sighed contently as he relaxed in the bath tub. He brushed his hair out of his face with his left hand, examining the bathroom around him with a smile on his face.

There was a shower to his right, and a toilet across the room, with a sink to its left. There was another door, which lead to a steam room, and the other door lead to his room. He picked up one of the shampoos, which had a citrus smell to it. He smiled as he took in its scent, before relaxing happily in his bubbles, as he looked out the window to the backyard, pushing aside the curtains, noticing someone outside. He tensed slightly when he saw it was the silver haired men, save for Yazoo. He noticed that the buff one was crying, to which he rolled his eyes. He then noticed that the crying one, Loz, if he remembered correctly, was punching the ground. He opened the window, before shouting "You're not going to dig holes that way, so don't try."He then shut the window, but not before he heard another cry. He relaxed in his tub, smirking as he brushed his golden locks out of his face again, still keeping his eyes on the people down below. Loz had curled up, whimpering and crying, while Kadaj was comforting him, while shaking his fist at Rufus, who just stuck his tongue out in response. Kadaj then flipped him off, while Rufus made a punching gesture, and ended up punching the window. The window was fine, but Rufus could swear one of his bones were broken. "Oh shit" he grumbled, as Kadaj, from below, laughed his ass off.

Rufus glared daggers at the silver haired brat, before going back to relaxing in the tub. He stretched, sighing as he looked over the bubbles, which were starting to dissipate. It was just the ordinary relaxation period for Rufus Shinra, unfortunately.

---

Kadaj snarled as he glared up at the window where he knew Rufus was. He then turned to his older brother, who just kept sniffling and crying. With a sigh, Kadaj just stated "Hey, we came out here to train and keep your mind off her. Come on, come at me." Kadaj smirked, getting into a fight fighter's stance. Loz nodded, as he stood up, taking off his gauntlets as he looked at his brother. "Ready, Nii-san?" Loz mumbled, before dashing at his brother, raising his fist. Kadaj smirked, as he easily dodged the hit from Loz, countering downwards as he took a step forward. Loz, noticing this, quickly did a flip, while sending a kick to Kadaj, who slid to the side. Kadaj spun around, with a grin on his face, watched his brother land, before sending a roundhouse kick to Loz's face. Loz, who had just landed, didn't expect the kick, and was propelled to a nearby tree, which, thankfully, was reinforced with foam. Loz staggered up, before glaring at his brother, who stood tall, smirking with his arms crossed. Loz let out a snarl, before dashing at Kadaj with speed he didn't know he had, as Kadaj, still smirking, just dodged by bending backwards, while compensating by kicking his leg up, catching Loz in the stomach. Loz winced, before sending a hard punch to Kadaj's jaw. Kadaj didn't expect this, and was sent flying into the fence, which surprisingly didn't collapse. He fell to the ground with a wince, before he gingerly stood back up, while popping his jaw back into place. It was Loz's turn to stand tall, as he grinned slyly at his brother. Then, both of them dashed at each other at the same time. Synchronized, they raised their fists, aiming for the other's face.

"OY! Elena says Dinner is ready, stop sparring and eat!" Carmen's irritated voice snapped from inside the house. The two fighters turned, their fists still flying, and both caught the other in the temple, effectively knocking each other out. "You two morons coming in or wha..." she drifted off, watching the two men fall to the ground, "Morons..." She sighed, before dragging both fighters back inside by their forearms, grumbling angrily under her breath.

---

Carmen let out a depressed little sigh, before glancing up at the sky. The sun was going down. And though she was filled with warm and delicious cooking, she felt...Empty.

The girl let out a sigh as she began to change into her sleep-wear. She momentarily paused to look herself over. Scars adorned her body, most of them from battles, but her eyes rested on a large scar on her left knee. A scar of Childish innocence, and of foolishness. In a way, her childhood ended even before the Oni entered her life; her happiness dead long before the fateful day. With another long exhale of breath, the girl sat down on her bed, rubbing her knee as it twitched in the memory. But before she could dive into her memories, her phone rang. (A/N Unlike Roxy, I don't change my ring tone.) She flipped it open, as she mumbled out "Wai?"

"You sound like Miss Roxanne."

"Red? How do you know my number? More importantly, How did you pick up the phone?"

"Never mind that now. Yazoo told me about Roxanne's nightly excursions."

"What nightly excursions?"

"Roxanne has been going off every night to fight Oni. She comes back at dawn, and doesn't get any sleep at all."

"This is Roxy we're talking about. She doesn't **need** sleep. Like I said, She's a freaking Vampire, even when she isn't in her limit."

"Yes well-"

Carmen's phone began to vibrate in the middle of her call. She looked at it and saw Yazoo's number.

"Red, can you please Bite Yazoo in the leg? He's calling me even though I'm talking to you on Roxy's home phone."

Shuffles, Yelps, and grumbles could be heard in the distance, before Yazoo's voice wavered out of the phone.

"Carmen, Go find Roxy. Please. She's at a valley near a cliff and-"

"Wait...A valley near a cliff... with lots of Oni...where she died..." Carmen drifted off, her eyes widening.

She shut her phone, her pupils tiny. Quickly, she put on her Slayer coat, and grabbed the Soul's Bane, before dashing down the stairs, and out the door, her retarded older brother, home only for spring break, turning to her.

"Carmen, where the hell are you going, and what are you wearing?"

"Anime Convention, late for a skit, gotta go bye!!!" the girl managed to sputter out.

The door slammed shut as the girl dashed out.

---

Carmen: Yaay! The chappie is done! Please review, please!!! It's the author's life line! –puppy dog eyes-


	10. Decisons and Memories

Roxy: Reviews

Roxy: Reviews? reviews? Donate some reviews to the poor. Lol.

Carmen: Yarp.

RR

Audra Kaiba Advent ID 001: Here ya go, one chapter fresh off the printing presses, careful, the ink is still drying.

--

Roxy strutted forward into a new swarm of Oni. They had regained some recruits.

'_Pathetic fools. I've made my decision.'_

She pulled out her guns and quickly rapid fired at the group, they dropped like flies and she grinned cynically. She heard a whoosh behind her even though it was pouring rain and spun her sword around. She looked up and saw Carmen counter with Soul's Bane and a fearsome look on her face.

"What are you doing here?"

Roxy shouted over the weather. She jumped as a fist came smashing down at the spot she was just standing and pulled out her materia.

"Thundaga!"

At least 4 Oni dropped to the ground and she smirked gleefully. She hadn't told Yazoo but the reason she was down here was to kill. It was her obsession, to take all her hate, emotions, everything out. Carmen killed off a few more with elegant stroke of her sword and then the Oni backed off realizing that even though they weren't outnumbered they were certainly overpowered.

Roxy sat down at the base of one of the trees in the valley. Her hair plastered to her face and she gripped her sword. Carmen trudged up to her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to look for him Carm."

Carmen glared at Roxy and grabbed her arm tightly pulling her up.

"What the fuck are you insane?!"

"I can tell you I'm definitely not sane without him."

"You were fucking fine before he walked into your life! Move forward not backwards don't you think he wouldn't want you wasting your time thinking about him when he left!"

Carmen said as she shook Roxy as if it would knock the sense back into her friend.

"I'm not happy Carmen. Don't you want me happy?"

Carmen stopped shaking her and her shoulders lowered dejectedly.

"Yes but there's got to be another way. This isn't happiness. Brooding over a love that left is not happiness."

Roxy narrowed her eyes and pushed herself out of Carmen's grip. She scowled and looked her in the eyes.

"You know where he went don't you?"

"I..."

"Tell me now!"

Roxy shouted as she gripped onto Carmen's shoulders. Carmen sighed then glared at her friend and pushed her away.

"That's classified information. Forget about him already."

"I can't."

Roxanne said as she stared at the ground, back to her emotionlessly self.

"He's in his own realm. He left you for more 'Lucrecia brooding' don't be stupid."

Carmen said harshly, trying to get Roxy to change her mind. She didn't want her friend to get hurt by him again no matter the reasons he left. So what if it was to protect her life? He shouldn't have left like that.

"I'm still going. Thank you for informing of his whereabouts."

"Dammit Roxy don't play rebel with me! I'm fucking serious if I have to drag you back to the Slayers headquarters and lock you up."

"I'll escape. You know I always do."

Carmen growled and punched Roxy in the face. Roxy fell backwards from the momentum and sat up, wiping the blood off her mouth. She looked up at Carmen with the same emotionless eyes and Carmen knew nothing she could say would perturb her from her goal.

'_Fine then I'll just have to beat the shit out of her until she'll listen.'_

Carmen pulled on Roxy's arm and kneed her in the stomach. But Roxy just stood there as if she wasn't in any pain, her limbs laid limp at her side and Carmen just clenched her hands into fists. She was getting pise off.

"What. The. Fuck. Do. I .Have. to. Do. To. Get. You. To. Listen?"

Carmen shouted between punches, each time hitting Roxy in the face and beat the shit out of her. Roxy took the hits and let Carmen use her as a punching bag. Finally when she was done with the violence, she turned towards her bruised friend.

"You fucking annoy me you know that?"

Carmen walked away; leaving Roxy slumped at the base of the tree in the pouring rain. Roxy finally spoke after Carmen had left the area.

"Vincent I'm coming to get you."

--

Carmen let out a snarl of fury as she swung a foot over her motorcycle, before speeding away to the opposite end of the field. She slowed, when she came across a bunch of Oni standing there. Surprisingly, Yuzaki and Kuza were standing there amongst them. She stopped, before stepping off her bike as Yuzaki's cold voice wavered out.

"One should wear a helmet when at that speed."

"You never do." Came Carmen's reply.

"I understand you are going to that other place. Gaia was it called that?"

"Correct. If my friend Roxy is going there, so will I. I figure if I can't talk her out of it, then I have to make sure she is safe."

"I doubt beating her to near unconsciousness would be talking her out of it."

"So you saw that..."

"Obviously, but that aside. If you are going to that place, then the soldiers of the organization called DEEPGROUND would recognize you, with face and name. It is best you adopt a pseudonym."

"Well... I suppose we haven't thought of that... But it would be for the best."

"Don't forget to hide your face. Also, your Slayer robe would be out of place. Figure out the fashions, and decide on that."

"Arigato, Yuzaki-dono." The Slayer bowed, before looking at the spot they were standing around.

"This is the spot isn't it?" Kuza asked, glancing at Carmen, who jumped, since she had entered her thoughts once more.

"Yes. This is where Katherine perished. After the battle with your previous leader-"

"Kaibutsu" Yuzuki interrupted.

"Sorry?"

"Kaibutsu. That's his name."

"Heh...Kinda fitting really. Translated, it means Monster." The girl had a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Well...Think about what we said about the fake names." The Oni watched Carmen, before smiling as they flew away.

Carmen sighed, she was now left to her thoughts. She looked down quietly at the ground, where Katherine breathed her last. She thought back to the night before that, as a tear trickled down her cheek

_Flashback, three years ago_

_A purple haired woman sat in a desk, and was currently scribbling away. She appeared to be in her mid twenties. In a desk parallel to the woman, a fifteen year old girl with a large bandage on her cheek, was inclined in her own chair and was throwing a ball made of masking tape up and down. But the girl always caught it, though the sound of tape hitting flesh got irritating after a while._

"_Damn it Carmen, stop it." The woman snapped as she glared at her partner._

"_But there's nothing to do. I finished my homework. You're just writing in your log, and Rango isn't picking you up for your date in another hour."_

"_Well, Can't you do something more quiet, like read?"_

"_Well, I could do that, but considering that I just came here from school, and I have no recreational books at the moment that is quite impossible."_

"_Fine." The gold eyed individual slammed her book closed, before glaring coldly at Carmen, who was smirking. "You did that on purpose!!"_

"_Nya Nyaaaah." The girl stuck her tongue out as she let her chair fall back down, her black plaid kilt flipping up for a few seconds. She let out a sigh as she straightened her black silk tie, before glancing at the other. "Hey, when is the next time Rango trains me? He said that after my cheek heals, but..." the girl sighed as she placed a hand on the bandage. "That was about a month ago, and my teachers think I should visit the hospital."_

"_It's an Oni inflicted wound. It has the Oni poison in it, so I doubt it will never heal properly. For now, just relax."_

"_Well, I highly doubt that I will. All I've done since I got here was fight nineteen battles, but other than that, I sit here with absolutely nothing to do!!"_

"_You've been keeping track?"_

"_Yup..." The girl let out a sigh, before looking out the window of their office, which was on the twentieth floor. "I wish my friends were Slayers as well."_

"_No, that wouldn't be a good thing. Friends are distractions on the battlefield, and," Katherine sighed, as she looked at Carmen with weary eyes, "If they died protecting you, how would you feel?"_

"_...Point taken..." the teen sighed. "But knowing them, if they found out, then they would either tell me to leave or let them help."_

"_Which is why You won't tell them. Besides," Katherine smiled at the younger slayer, "Carmen, you are my best friend. Both on the battlefield, and off."_

_Carmen's eyes widened, as she looked at Katherine as though she had grown a third head. Soon, Carmen grinned back. "Right back at Ya, Kat."_

--

Roxy had packed her things with her and was now talking to Yuffie and Yazoo. They were equal packs and it didn't take an idiot to realize the situation. They must've been coming with her too, to find the gunslinger.

Roxy chose Yuffie because she was one of her best friends and Yuffie was an awesome ninja and would have no trouble keeping up. She also asked if she could come along to give Vincent a good hard kick in the arse for obvious reasons.

Yazoo had practically shouted at Roxy and almost said the same things Carmen has said to her, minus the violence. He refused to let her go without him.

So now they were looking around for Cait Sith so he could take them back to the realm of Gaia.

--

Carmen snapped out of her stupor, which consisted of her remembering each and every battle she and Katherine fought together in. She looked up at the dark sky.

_Katherine..._

"Oy, Lass!" came a voice, to which Carmen turned, her sword up, but relaxed when she saw Red and Cait Sith.

"Oh...Hello you two." Carmen smiled, as she looked at Nanaki, who smiled back.

"We heard you attacked Roxanne."

"Lemmie guess. Shouldn't have done that." The girl sighed, to which the lion nodded.

"One shouldn't resort to violence to solve problems."

"But relax Lass!" Cait began, but Carmen interrupted.

"If Roxy is going, So am I. But I need to do something really quick"

The girl turned, before digging into the ground where Katherine died. She knelt down, praying quietly, before digging quietly with her gloved hands into the spot. Soon, she reached a small steel triangular shard buried. She picked it up, watching it coldly, before putting it in her pocket.

"Lass? What was that?"

"A shard of the Oni leader's sword… I'm bringing it to remember Katherine."

With that, she stood up and headed back to her bike.

--

Roxy: ...

Carmen: Daah! this chapter is alot shorter!! sorry!! but please review soon!! I now go to bed.


End file.
